Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/160

 *most assuming the office of prosecuting officer, while his brother magistrate, Justice Corwin, although present, and signing the commitments, seems to have been a silent, passive, and almost unwilling agent in the affair; so evidently was this the case, that his lukewarmness excited the displeasure of the accusing girls, and they made several attempts to cry out against members of his family.

Hathorne began in this case by addressing one of the afflicted ones:

"What do you say? Have you seen this woman hurt you?"

"Yes, she beat me this morning."

"Abigail, have you been hurt by this woman?"

"Yes, I have."

Here Ann Putnam had a terrible fit, and cried out that it was Rebecca Nurse who was afflicting her. When Ann's fit was over, and order restored in court, Hathorne continued:

"Goody Nurse, here are two who complain of you as hurting them; what do you say to it?"